On issue after issue, Republicans are pursuing policy goals that are unambiguously opposed by towering majorities of American citizens.

President Trump himself is on the wrong side of nearly every single major culture war initiative he has pursued.

Broad majorities of Americans believe the president tweets too often (69 percent), that his use of the platform at all is a net negative (59 percent), that health insurance should pay for birth control (69 percent), that NFL players should have the right to kneel during the national anthem without being fired (57 percent), and that they can trust the media to tell them the truth (68 percent).

While President Trump careens and rage-tweets his way to a needless crisis over the Iran deal, Americans want the accord to remain in place (56 percent to 29 percent), a decisive majority opposes military action against North Korea (60 percent to 29 percent) and 70 percent believe the president’s lunatic posturing and schoolyard name-calling are unhelpful in de-escalating the crisis.

Americans disapproved of President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement by a mile, too (59 percent to 28 percent).

So what are the Democrats doing about it?

Are they getting together and agreeing to laser-focus on the one or two most important (to the voters) issues?

No, they individually bop around like Whac-A-Mole players, reacting to each stupid tweet from Trump.

No focus, no plan, no philosophy, no direction, no change, no leader.

The public is angry. You voters want change. You voters of the 99% hate being down while the rich 1% are up.

But the Dems offer you nothing but horror about Trump’s lies.

Yes, we know. We get it. Trump is a lying, incompetent, mean-spirited, “me-only, ” “promise-them-anything” fraud. And yes, it’s no secret, the GOP is the party of the rich, and the rest of you be damned.

But Dems, what are you going to do about it, other than act outraged?

The numbers are much, much worse for the GOP economic agenda. The GOP’s plan to raise taxes on working people while slashing rates for the Hamptons set debuted at 28 percent support this week, with an overwhelming majority (65 percent) believing that large corporations should pay more in taxes rather than less.

Why else would his administration rescind the Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program when 70 percent of respondents want a path to citizenship for the DREAMers?

Even Trump’s magical, see-through border wall is down to 35 percent. Republicans also plan to cripple the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and roll back the Dodd-Frank financial reform passed into law under former President Obama, both of which continue to enjoy 74 percent approval from the public.

Before it was euthanized behind closed doors last week, the Graham-Cassidy health-care atrocity was polling at 20 percent.

As a marketing professional for the past 60 years, I’ve learned several things, but perhaps the most important of all is: Focus on the key benefits.

Don’t focus on the product. Don’t focus on the competition. Focus on the key benefits.

No company changes its slogan every day, but that is exactly what the Dems do. Every day its a new response to Trump, and by the time it hits, he’s long gone on yet another bit of nuttiness.

If you can tell me specifically what the Dems stand for, specifically what they want to accomplish, and specifically how they plan to help you, the voter, my hat’s off to you. I sure can’t.

Trump has the Dems so flummoxed, none of them can tell you what they hope to achieve for you. When they try to say everything, they communicate nothing.

Trump won not only because Hillary Clinton was an arrogant campaigner, who was so sure she had it won, she forgot to listen to the voters. Trump won because he promised to “drain the swamp,” and to make you great, again.

All his other promises were merely pieces of the one big concept: “Your government is broken and I will fix it for you. You should be great, but the government has taken your greatness away. I will make you great, again.”

That resonated with his two bases:

The beat down people who feel the world is against them and need a strong, white knight to save them, and

The rich who know greedy Trump will do everything for himself and in the process also benefit his fellow rich.

Neither of those bases cares that he is a lying, cheating, bigoted scumbag. He promised to fix the government and to cut taxes. All the voters cared about is that this charismatic speaker who feigns being just as angry at the government as they are, will shake things up on their behalf and make their lives beautiful.

What is the Democrats’ promise? What change will they make? Who is their charismatic speaker? What will they do for you?

The Republican Party of 2017 is a gang of thieves, miscreants, and shameless liars, acting not on any conceivable interpretation of the public good but instead governing in the interest of their donors and their increasingly unhinged base, the sort of people who would elect a lawless theocrat called Roy Moore to one of the 100 or so most important offices in the entire country.

They are gambling that their only meaningful challenge is to survive the wrath of their primary voters, who they expect to ignore outcomes, and instead hold incumbents to an ideological litmus test — rewarding them with re-election only if their policy positions signal congruence.

The Democrats lack two things: Courage and a charismatic leader.

They lack the courage to tell the people why federal deficit is spending good for them, and here is what benefits we will give you. [See the Ten Steps, below]

The Democrats put Professor Stephanie Kelton on the payroll. She understands Monetary Sovereignty. She is an expert.

They hired her, then didn’t say a word about Monetary Sovereignty, ample evidence of extreme cowardice or extreme stupidity. Take your choice.

Instead, they chose as their candidate, someone who would change nothing except the monograms on the White House linens.

She was “more of the same,” while Trump was “drain the swamp.”

So an obviously dishonest ignoramus won when the election shouldn’t even have been close, and it was all due to Democratic incompetence, no, Democratic conservatism.

Note to Dems: Below are Ten Steps. Pick one. Focus on it. Make it your signature. Explain why it will work. Explain why it will benefit the 99%. Fight for it. Defend it against lies. Be united for it. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

For instance, #1 is “Eliminate FICA.” Easily done at the stroke of a pen. Nothing complicated. Just eliminate the most regressive, unfair tax in America. It serves no purpose, whatsoever. None.

FICA

(No, despite all the lies from the government and the politicians, FICA does not fund Social Security, does not fund Medicare, and does not fund anything else.

It is a 100% loss for the economy and 0% useful.)

Getting rid of it would be a trillion dollar boost to the economy — a trillion dollar benefit to business and to the working class.

Please, explain why the federal government doesn’t need my FICA dollars, and why the elimination of FICA won’t cause inflation and why it will make my life better. Tell me the good news.

Fight, fight, fight for it. Don’t surrender to the “debt is bad, our children will pay” bullshit memes. All you need is the courage to change the “same old, same old” to “Here is what your future can be.”

Have the Dems learned from the thrashings of the past few years? I see no signs of it. All I see is more “Trump is bad” Whac-a-Mole.

Who cares, anymore? So yes, Trump is bad. And yes, the GOP is bad. And the Nazis are bad. White supremacists are bad. Joe Arpaio is bad. Steve Bannon is bad. I get it.

But, all I really want to know is, what will you do for me? That. Is. All. I. Want. To. Know.

Tell me the same thing again, and again, and again. I may not believe you the first time or even the 100th time. But eventually, if you tell me the same thing, often enough and passionately enough, I will believe.

And then, because you will have the advantage of truth, I will follow you, and you will win.

Ten Steps To Prosperity:1. ELIMINATE FICA (Ten Reasons to Eliminate FICA )Although the article lists 10 reasons to eliminate FICA, there are two fundamental reasons:*FICA is the most regressive tax in American history, widening the Gap by punishing the low and middle-income groups, while leaving the rich untouched, and*The federal government, being Monetarily Sovereign, neither needs nor uses FICA to support Social Security and Medicare.2. FEDERALLY FUNDED MEDICARE — PARTS A, B & D, PLUS LONG TERM CARE — FOR EVERYONE (H.R. 676, Medicare for All )This article addresses the questions:
*Does the economy benefit when the rich can afford better health care than can the rest of Americans?
*Aside from improved health care, what are the other economic effects of “Medicare for everyone?”
*How much would it cost taxpayers?
*Who opposes it?”
3. PROVIDE A MONTHLY ECONOMIC BONUS TO EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD IN AMERICA (similar to Social Security for All) (The JG (Jobs Guarantee) vs the GI (Guaranteed Income) vs the EB (Economic Bonus)) Or institute a reverse income tax.
This article is the fifth in a series about direct financial assistance to Americans:

Economic growth should include the “bottom” 99.9%, not just the .1%, the only question being, how best to accomplish that. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) favors giving everyone a job. Monetary Sovereignty (MS) favors giving everyone money. The five articles describe the pros and cons of each approach.
4. FREE EDUCATION (INCLUDING POST-GRAD) FOR EVERYONE Five reasons why we should eliminate school loans
Monetarily non-sovereign State and local governments, despite their limited finances, support grades K-12. That level of education may have been sufficient for a largely agrarian economy, but not for our currently more technical economy that demands greater numbers of highly educated workers.
Because state and local funding is so limited, grades K-12 receive short shrift, especially those schools whose populations come from the lowest economic groups. And college is too costly for most families.
An educated populace benefits a nation, and benefitting the nation is the purpose of the federal government, which has the unlimited ability to pay for K-16 and beyond.
5. SALARY FOR ATTENDING SCHOOL
Even were schooling to be completely free, many young people cannot attend, because they and their families cannot afford to support non-workers. In a foundering boat, everyone needs to bail, and no one can take time off for study.
If a young person’s “job” is to learn and be productive, he/she should be paid to do that job, especially since that job is one of America’s most important.
6. ELIMINATE FEDERAL TAXES ON BUSINESS
Businesses are dollar-transferring machines. They transfer dollars from customers to employees, suppliers, shareholders and the federal government (the later having no use for those dollars). Any tax on businesses reduces the amount going to employees, suppliers and shareholders, which diminishes the economy. Ultimately, all business taxes reduce your personal income.
7. INCREASE THE STANDARD INCOME TAX DEDUCTION, ANNUALLY. (Refer to this.) Federal taxes punish taxpayers and harm the economy. The federal government has no need for those punishing and harmful tax dollars. There are several ways to reduce taxes, and we should evaluate and choose the most progressive approaches.
Cutting FICA and business taxes would be a good early step, as both dramatically affect the 99%. Annual increases in the standard income tax deduction, and a reverse income tax also would provide benefits from the bottom up. Both would narrow the Gap.8. TAX THE VERY RICH (THE “.1%) MORE, WITH HIGHER PROGRESSIVE TAX RATES ON ALL FORMS OF INCOME. (TROPHIC CASCADE)
There was a time when I argued against increasing anyone’s federal taxes. After all, the federal government has no need for tax dollars, and all taxes reduce Gross Domestic Product, thereby negatively affecting the entire economy, including the 99.9%.
But I have come to realize that narrowing the Gap requires trimming the top. It simply would not be possible to provide the 99.9% with enough benefits to narrow the Gap in any meaningful way. Bill Gates reportedly owns $70 billion. To get to that level, he must have been earning $10 billion a year. Pick any acceptable Gap (1000 to 1?), and the lowest paid American would have to receive $10 million a year. Unreasonable.
9. FEDERAL OWNERSHIP OF ALL BANKS (Click The end of private banking and How should America decide “who-gets-money”?)
Banks have created all the dollars that exist. Even dollars created at the direction of the federal government, actually come into being when banks increase the numbers in checking accounts. This gives the banks enormous financial power, and as we all know, power corrupts — especially when multiplied by a profit motive.
Although the federal government also is powerful and corrupted, it does not suffer from a profit motive, the world’s most corrupting influence.
10. INCREASE FEDERAL SPENDING ON THE MYRIAD INITIATIVES THAT BENEFIT AMERICA’S 99.9% (Federal agencies)Browse the agencies. See how many agencies benefit the lower- and middle-income/wealth/ power groups, by adding dollars to the economy and/or by actions more beneficial to the 99.9% than to the .1%.
Save this reference as your primer to current economics. Sadly, much of the material is not being taught in American schools, which is all the more reason for you to use it.

The Ten Steps will grow the economy, and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and you.